We Fight Together
by WhenRosesTurnBlack
Summary: When Rose hears rumors about an upcoming Strigoi mass attack, she and the gang are send to Russia to prepare themselves for war so they can protect each other and their familys. They'll give everything they have. And believe me, they've got a lot.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: How it all began

"Rose!" Lilliths voice snapped me right back into reality. "Let's go, Rose, it's getting dark."

I looked outside, she was right, the sun was about to set.

"Yeah," I said, "It's time."

Stupid! I shouldn't get myself distracted so close to night time, but I hadn't been able to help myself. I'd just gotten of the phone with Dimitri and I just missed him like crazy! He'd been worried (as always) but I'd heard another tone in his voice, a tone filled with desire and longing. It'd been 3 months since I last saw him, Lissa and the gang. 3 months, but it might as well have been 3 years, if not longer! Even though I got a big part of my family with me, I couldn't help but wishing for the other part to be here as well.

About 2 years ago, I'd caught sign of Strigoi teaming up to kill our queen and the Royal Council. They saw it as the perfect way to create fear within our society, murdering the queen and royals, with the best wards and guardians was the best way of receiving that 'respect' and fear (in their eyes at least… but, well, you gotta give it to them. It's not a bad evil-masterplan.) When I'd informed the queen of this, she had totally lost it. She was scared to death and insisted on someone handling this case. And ya know… When you're the one bringing the mess up, you really shouldn't be surprised 'bout being the one to have to clean things up.

The queen had ordered me away from court, to Russia, where most of the Strigoi leaders had their hide-outs. But leaving court had also meant leaving Lissa and Dimitri. My lover and best friend/sister. They'd been devastated by my leaving, and they had insisted on tagging along, but there was no way Lissa, a royal moroi and last of her line, would be aloud on a dangerous mission like this. I convinced Dimitri to stay behind as well. Convincing him had been extremely hard, because I didn't just have to convince him, but myself too. There was no way, however that I'd let him come. He's an amazing fighter and a good partner on the road, but these were exactly the reasons why I needed him to stay at court. I knew no-one (well, except me of course) could protect Lissa as wel as Dimitri. Leaving her was one thing, leaving her unprotected? Not gonna happen. Not now, not ever. If she couldn't have the best (me) then she'd have the next-in-line: Dimitri. Even if it meant leaving the other part of my heart behind. This was a sacrifice I was willing to give for my sister.

I've also had a hard time leaving my brothers behind. Christian and Eddie had been about as fierce as Lissa and Dimitri about accompanying me, but just like the others, this trip was just too dangerous for them. The separation, however, didn't mean that we didn't keep touch. I called with at least one of them everyday and we tried to meet up as much as possible. Which of course wasn't a lot, but enough to keep the fire between Dimitri and me alive as well as the sisterly love for Lissa, Christian and Eddie.

They were also the only 4 people alive (well, if you don't count myself, my gang and the queen) who knew that I, Rose Hathaway, was the leader of the notorious hunting-gang.

You see, when I came to Russia, I faced my first major, pain-in-the-ass problem: I was up alone against an entire army of Strigoi. Sure, I was a great guardian, but after the Spokane-incident, there was just no way that I'd ever risk being reckless again.

I needed backup, so I travelled back to Novosibirsk, where I knocked on Tamara's door…

***flashback***

A blond girl I didn't recognise opened the door.

-"да?"

I reminded myself that I'd need to learn Russian. And fast. Not knowing the language of the land you'll be working and living in for God knows how long would be a total liability on my part. Presuming she hadn't asked me anything specific, I gave her a nod and asked her about Tamara.

-"Could I speak to Tamara, please?"

-"Okay," the girl answered in English, but with an extremely heavy accent.

Then she turned her head away from the door and yelled Tamara's name.

When Tamara entered the hall she looked at me wide-eyed.

I cringed mentally, remembering that they probably thought I was dead, but kept my guardian face in place and smiled a small smile.

-"Hey Tamara, long time no see."

She squealed and pulled me into a huge hug.

I laughed "I missed you too, Mara," I said, remembering my old nickname for her.

She seemed to remember this too and she giggled in delight as she draw me even closer to her.

Then she suddenly pulled back and looked at me with wondering, awestruck eyes.

-"You… No dead?"

Ahh, right, I forgot she didn't speak any English. That would definitely become a problem, seeing as how we needed to correspond perfectly while hunting down a Strigoi.

Not knowing how I could explain her anything, I just shook my head and asked: "Dennis?"

She nodded and guided me to the living room.

Dennis and Lev were sitting on the couch, watching TV, with another blond girl and another boy sitting next to them.

When I entered the room, I held my head right up and walked confident, because I knew that they would view that as a sign of strength and if I wanted them to follow me on this mission, I needed to win their respect again.

Not that you think I'd need to, judging from the looks on Dennis and Lev's faces when I came into view.

I smirked my trademark smirk and put my hands on my hips.

-"What? No welcome hug? I must say I liked Tamara's greeting a lot more."

That seemed to snap them out of their trance, because suddenly I was all but tackled to the floor.

-"Rose!" they yelled, and from there on, they started random rambling.

-"I don't believe it!"

-"We thought you were dead! Do you know how worried we have been?"

-"How could you disappear on us like that?"

-"What happened?"

-"GUYS!" I yelled and I gave them a stern look, but they could still see the joy in my eyes. "If you'd shut up for a minute, I would explain everything to you. Just one question at the time, please!"

-"Sorry Rose," said Dennis, "We just really missed you! You have no idea how worried we have been! Come here!" He pulled me into another bone-crushing hug.

-"He's right, Rose, don't bail on us like that again, okay?" said Lev. He had a serious expression on his face, along with a lot of relieve and happiness.

-"Rose?" said the guy on the couch. "As in Rose Hathaway?"

There was wonder and awe in his voice. What had these guys told him about me?

-"I've heard quite the stories about you."

I grinned at him. "All good, I hope? Otherwise I might be doing some asskicking tonight." I said with a playful grin at Dennis, Lev and Tamara.

The guys all laughed, along with the blond girl that had opened the door, Tamara and the other blond girl had apparently not understood a word of the conversation.

-"Now, not to be rude, but seeing as how you know who I am, care to tell me your names as well?"

-"I'm Victor, that's Lillith (he pointed to the blond haired girl on the couch) and that's Lena (the girl who'd opened the door). We've heard a lot about you, Rose. Oh, and Lillith doesn't speak any English so you'll just have to excuse her."

-"Yeah, I figured that one out already. Well then, what have you hea-"

I suddenly had this very strange feeling in my stomach, I felt nauseous, not the Strigoi-alarm-kind, but a very uncomfortable feeling. I turned to Dennis and I prayed I wouldn't get my thoughts confirmed.

-"Dennis, where's Arthur?" my voice was barely a whisper.

Dennis turned his head away from me and Tamara's eyes had started watering at the sound of Art's name, but it was Lev who answered me in with a grave voice.

-"Rose, a few weeks after you left. Well, we came past some Stigoi. 3 of them against the 4 of us. We did as you taught us to, Rose. We stuck together, I swear we did." He said, almost pleading as he saw a tear fall down my face.

-"I know you did, Lev. Please go on. I need to know." Despite the tear, my voice sounded eerily calm and collected, and he obeyed.

-"We stuck together and quickly took out one of them. She was young and unskilled, but then the other 2. Rose, they were so old and powerful and fast. We did as well as we could, but Art ignored our tactic. He ran out of our formation, straight to one of them and none of us were fast enough to give him support. He fell and in our rage we were able to stake the other two, but it was too late for Art. We buried him few days after in Baia, with his family."

-"You've done what you could, Lev," I said. I spoke almost automatically, my usual Hathaway-bravado forgotten.

I wouldn't let any harm come to the rest of them. From now on, they would be safe. They would never have to go through the pain of losing a friend again. The pain I'd endured 2 times now. I time with Mason and now Arthur. And that was without even counting the enormous pain I'd felt by losing Dimitri. In that moment I swore to myself that I would do everything in my power to train them, to be the best of the best, so that they could protect themselves properly.

-"If you'll still have me," I paused and I saw the hope on their faces. I took that as a yes.

-"Then I would be happy to hunt with you again. I'll train you to be the best of the best, because I promise to you now that I will do anything, anything in my power to protect you from the pain of losing a friend again."

Dennis translated what I'd said and now the faces of Tamara and Lillith showed the same hope, eagerness but mostly relief as the rest of them. They must've lived in bigger fear for their lives then I'd realised, but now, that would change. I was here and I planned on starting their training first thing in the morning. but first there was something else they should know…

"If you agree with me training and accompanying you guys…" I trailed of, raising my eyebrows and looking at them questioningly.

Again, Dennis translated for the 2 girls and both of them answered him something.

-"Tamara said that she'd be thrilled to have you back. She said she's missed you and would feel a lot safer if you'd be guiding us again." While he said this, Tamara smiled a huge, grateful smile at me and I didn't hesitate in answering it with a smile of my own.

-"Lillith said that she's heard a lot about you and would like to see you in action, proving your worthy of leadership. Only then she'll cast her vote." Lillith looked me straight in the eye while this was being translated and I looked back at her with no hesitation. She wanted me to prove myself capable of being a leader? Fine, why not start now. I spoke in a collect tone that held no emotion. "And I will prove myself worthy." then I gave her a nod and looked at the 2 other newbie's.

-"What do you say?" I asked. Still in that collect voice.

-"It would be my honour to fight alongside you Rose." This came from Victor and I gave him a half-smile.

-"thanks Victor. Lena?"

Lena looked at me and said with her heavy accent: "I've noticed the respect Tamara, Dennis and Lev have for you Rose. I know they could only regard you like that if you are a really amazing fighter. I also know that you would be a definite asset for our protection, but I don't know if I trust you to not just run of on them, on _us_ again. How do I know you won't just leave us to our faith if you decide this isn't the right path for you after all?"

I kept my guardian-mask in place and thought about my answer. It was a fair question so I shouldn't hesitate about answering it, but I couldn't help but wanting to tell her to shut the hell up and move along to Dennis and Lev, because my answer involved telling them everything, and I mean _everything_ about Dimitri.

Still… If we were supposed to be hunting the streets and solving the threats against the queen together, we needed to trust each other completely. That wouldn't happen if we didn't learn to respect and understand one another. And how could they ever understand me if they didn't know all that I'd been through. Besides, those actions are what made me become who I am today. So I decided to tell them.

I told them from mine and Dimitri's relationship, the attack at Saint-Vladimir's, Dimitri's turning, my hunting, my capture, everything till the day he was turned back into a dhampir.

I talked for a long time and somehow, we all ended up sitting on the couch with Tamara tearing up (Dennis translated while I talked) and understanding and a growing respect on the rest of the guy's faces.

When I was done I turned to Lena: "So now you know that I did not leave willingly. And definitely not intentionally without saying goodbye to everyone." While talking, my mask had disappeared (intentionally) because I wanted them to see the real me. I didn't want to hide anything from these guys.

-"Thanks for sharing this, Rose. It couldn't have been easy, but I appreciate the attempt to open up." Lena then smiled at me and I smiled a small, sad smile back. My mind still on Dimitri and how he's not with me right now. God, how I missed him!

I took a deep breath and turned to Dennis and Lev.

-"What about you guys?"

-"You've always been one of us, Rose, I'm just glad you're back." said Lev, while Dennis nodded and smiled at me.

-"One more thing, I plan on learning Russian, so while I train you, you'll have to return the favour by learning me this weird, illogical language of yours, kay?"

Lena grinned at me and said: "No problem, Rose, you'll be fluid in Russian before you even realise it."

"Good, because I plan on learning you to kick someone's ass before they even realise it before you even realise it." I grinned back.

Lena laughed and as we talked through the night, I told them the story about Mason and later on even my mission for the queen. I also learned the story of how Lily, Lena and Vic had joined the group. Apparently, they were also ex-students from St-Basils, but a year older then the rest of them. They were also drop-outs and had hunted alone for a while (also losing 2 friends of theirs) before bumping into Dennis, Tamara and Lev at Art's funeral. They'd joined them for a ride to Novosibirsk and hadn't separated since.

***End of Flashback***

From then on, I trained them everyday as hard as I could. They didn't like it in the beginning, saying that they were dying from pain, but eventually (after a lot of threatening from my part) they shut up and their muscles loosened up. They picked things up quite easily and after about a month of intense training, we started hunting at night, training 3 hours a day and chilling for the rest of the day.

It was a routine we and the more time we spend together, the more we began to regard each other as a true family. They regarded me as their leader, mainly because I was still the best fighter, (I trained an extra hour each day so I could find some new tricks. I looked at it as a personal challenge.) but also because I leaded the investigation on the Strigoi-leaders.

When we'd cornered a Strigoi, we would try to find out who he worked for, where that leader lived etc, using that tactic, we'd been able to track down 13 mansions so far. Using our amazing fighting techniques to clear those mansions out had provided us with fame.

Strigoi, Moroi and Dhampir all knew there was a hunting-group on the move. Strigoi feared them and Moroi and Dhampirs worshiped them, though they had absolutely no idea who exactly was in that group.

The only thing they knew was that the leader was a girl and the rest of the group existed of 3 other girls and 3 boys. All of them were total badasses.

The girls always dressed in a black tank top, black skinny jeans and a leather jacket, the boys the same but with a black t-shirt and the leader also with black skinny jeans and a leather jacket, but she didn't wear a tank top, she wore a black sports bra. The ones who saw her would immediately think:

'Wow!' with her long, dark brown hair, sometimes loose down to her but, sometimes pulled up in a messy bun and her well-trained, strong body with beautiful curves she sure was something to look at. However, the ones who saw her usually didn't live long enough to tell another soul about her beauty.

The only reason they knew the number of members from the group and their looks was because a couple of guardians broke into the Alchemist's records and hacked into some surveillance cameras. That was the first time they saw the group in action, though they weren't able to recognise any faces on the tape. almost like as if the group knew where the cameras would be. (which they probably did).

Only Dimitri Belikov, Vasilisa Dragomir, Queen Tatiana, Eddie Castile and Christian Ozera know the identity of these hunters. They have gotten to know the group as well, because whenever Rose met up with her beloved ones, her new family would accompany her.

They never let a family member travel alone, because they were so much stronger together then alone. And with every Strigoi 'alive' searching and longing to kill them, there really was no way that they would leave each others sight. As promised, the gang taught Rose how to speak Russian and now she was just as fluid in Russian as she was in French and Turkish. (Lissa had felt jealous that the others had another language to talk with Rose in private, so they had decided to get a language for their own: French. They spoke in French whenever they had to say something to each other that the others didn't need to know. Rose also spoke to Lissa in French when they were having a secret conversation: Lissa spoke to Rose through the bond and Rose would answer her aloud in French. That way no one knew what they were saying, which they both preferred. Rose also figured that since she was half-Turkish, she might as well learn her fathers language.).

-"Rose!" called Lilliths "Let's go, Rose, it's getting dark."

I looked outside "Yeah, it's time." I got up and got changed into my normal hunting outfit (sportsbra, skinny and leather jacket) and grabbed my weapons.

We all had a gun with silver bullets, a stake and some silver handcuffs (all sponsored by the queen).

-"Lets go kick some butt, sis!" I said with a smirk.

Lillith laughed and walked with Rose to the others before they all disappeared into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

-"Where too, boss?"Asked Victor in Russian. He always called me boss when we were out on the road. It had annoyed me a bit in the beginning, but I let it go, realising that even 'the great Rose Hathaway' couldn't get this man to shut the hell up. That didn't mean I had to undergo it quietly, though, so I came up with a nickname for him as well.

-"We're going to that nightclub the queen told us about, shortie." I answered him. 'Shortie' didn't fit him at all, though, he was huge. Like, really, really huge. He was very muscled, but therefore not as fast as the rest of us, but his strength was incredible and he was also really tall, like almost Dimitri-height. I probably fit like 3 times in him, so not really a fitting nickname, but it annoyed the crap out of him and that was all that mattered to me.

Dennis and Lena cracked a smile at my tease, but Lev asked me: "When'd you speak with the queen? I thought you were on the phone with Dimitri earlier on."

-"I was." I said, "But before that the queen called me, saying that there had been coming in some tips about a Strigoi-tease here in Moscow. She told me to start out with this club, apparently there've been quite a few people gone missing recently."

-"You think we're up against another pack?" Asked Tamara with a worried frown on her face.

I couldn't blame her. Strigoi were easy for us to handle with when they were alone or in pairs, but lately there'd been more groups of 5 to 8 then the normal loner or pair. It worried us all. The fact that Strigoi weren't able to coexist was a relief for our society. That way they were less of a threat. Still dangerous of course, but nowhere near as dangerous as 5 of them combining their strength and actually using tactic in their fights.

The only reason we were able to defeat the packs we'd run into was because we'd 2 years experience on the road and still trained 3 (well, me 4) hours a day. We also backed each other up and knew each other's moves perfectly. However, that didn't take away the fact that it was pretty scary seeing Strigoi work together so well. This was more proof to us that they would be able to plan an attack with a lot of Strigoi together. And therefore more proof that they might be coming closer to the attack on the queen and royals.

I sighed "I'm afraid we are, Mara. There've been a lot of disappearances here, there's just no way 1 or 2 Strigoi could do so much damage."

-"Shit," said Lilly. She tied her long blond hair together in a messy bun, like mine. Mara's hair was dark brown and curly and it only hung to her shoulders, but she always tied it up when going to battle. Lena's dark blond hair wasn't as long as mine and Lilly's, but still long. She mostly wore it lose, she said that looked the most sexy and I agreed (which is why my hair's worn lose often too) but when I expected a lot of fighting (like today) I wore it up, for fear it might get in my way.

-"Shit indeed," I murmured.

-"Language, boss," Victor teased.

-"Watch it, Shortie," I hissed back.

-"Well, if the 2 of you would shut the hell up already, you'd see that we're at the club." Lena said with a grin.

-"Yeah, yeah," I said, "we stick together, guys. We don't know how many there are, but I'm not taking any riskes.

-"Sure, are there any around, Rose?" asked Dennis.

I shook my head, I didn't feel any nausea. "No, not yet, let's just go dancing for a while. Keep an eye on the entrances in the meantime, kay?"

They all nodded and we entered the club and headed straight to the dancefloor.

We'd been dancing for about half an hour when I started feeling nauseous.

-"Guys," I warned. They all heard me, and gave a slight nod, but didn't glance my way. That might attract attention and we didn't want the Strigoi to know _they_ were the ones being hunted tonight.

We danced our way over to the bar and I looked around subtly and spotted 6 Strigoi with a group of humans around them. There were 4 male Strigoi (who each had a human girl in there arms) and 2 female (who were in the arms of a human man). We watched for a while and waited for the Strigoi to head outside, since there was no way we could start a fight inhere, not with all those humans around.

After a long hour of waiting, they finally headed outside and we quickly followed them. We had to act quick or the humans would be dead before we were able to reach them. We were able to follow them without attracting their attention (we'd worked months on walking this quiet and now not even Strigoi-hearing could give us away) and followed them to a dark alley (for a change –note the sarcasm-).

We moved with lightspeed, staking 2 of the Strigoi before they even realised what was happening (and that said something, seeing as how fast they were and how good their sentences worked), but the other 4 collected themselves fast and pushed their victims aside, going in a formation (wtf? Strigoi In formation? No Way!) and baring their fangs.

Me, Dennis, Lilly and Lena charged forward, each of us attacking a Strigoi, while Victor, Mara and Lev lunged at them from behind. With Mara's help I was able to stake one quickly and I immediately kicked another Strigoi in the side who had just pushed Lilly and Lev against a wall. While Mara went to pick them up I challenged him in a fight.

We danced a deadly dance, this guy was very old and powerful. Him throwing of Lev and Lilly (2 of the best trained Dhampirs alive) hadn't been luck on his side. This guy knew what he was doing, but hell, so did I. We each dodged and kicked, my speed almost rivalling his. He grunted, obviously not expecting me to last this long, and I feinted right while kicking his feet from under him with my left.

Spinning around and punching his jaw made him lose his balance and he lay on the ground, with me on top of him in a matter of seconds. I punched him in the jaw a few times and while he was distracted by my left fist pounding in on him over and over again and my legs holding his in a (for him) painful grip, I quickly took out my handcuffs and clicked them around one of his wrists. He grunted from the pain from the silver on his skin, but still protected his chest very well.

Too bad for him I wasn't out to kill him… yet. First I needed information and assuming he was really old, he might have information about another mansion. So with him protecting his chest I was able to break his nose with my elbow, rip my stake across his neck and then pull his one arm to his other and click the other wrist in place in the handcuffs.

By the time I was done with this, I looked up to see that the rest of the gang had finished the other 2 off and were now knocking the humans unconscious. It wasn't something we liked to do, but while interrogating this Strigoi, they would possibly hear things about our world that they shouldn't and we couldn't let them run off before the Alchemists had erased their memories. All pretty complicated and knocking them unconscious was the only solution we'd been able to come up with.

-"You guys okay?" I asked, focusing mainly on Lev and Lilly.

-"Yeah, we're good, Rose. Don't worry, we can handle a little bruise." said Lev.

That was true, with our lives, we could handle a lot more then just a little bruise so I shook it of and turned my attention back on the Strigoi that was still underneath me. Dennis and Victor came by my side, kneeled down and pushed the guys shoulders down, just in case. I pulled my stake back out and started my questioning.

-"Who do you work for?"

-"Get the hell off of me, you bitch! Who the hell do you think you are?"

-"Lesson number one," I slashed my staked into his chest (not in his heart) "Never call a girl a bitch." I sliced it across his shoulder, "especially not when the girl in question can give you pain," into his stomach "a _lot_ of pain, that is." My voice had taken a dangerous tone, that I'd learned even Strigoi could fear. My mouth had twitched into a mechanic smile and I saw the Strigoi swallow before opening his mouth again.

-"You're going to die! All of you! I'm going to give you all a slow, painful death!" he yelled.

-"Seriously, do all Strigoi have to go through a bootcamp or something? Cuz you all say the exact same things: blablabla, going to die, blablablba. It's starting to get on my nerves, and remember." I sliced my stake across his chect again, making him wince. "You don't wanna get on my bad side. Well, now that I think of it, you already _are_ on my bad side. Let's just try not to make it any worse, okay bad boy? Now be good and tell me who you're working for." By the end of my speech, my voice had grown even colder then before and I saw a bit of fear starting to break through on the Strigoi's face.

-"I'm under Igor, he's leading the Moscow-clan."

-"Very well, now tell me; where's your mansion?"

He looked at me speculatively.

-"Will yo-" I cut him off. "No deals, either you tell me or you'll die the most cruel death I can imagine. And believe me, I'm a pretty imaginary person." I said with an evil grin. I had the satisfaction to watch him pale even more, but I also saw a determined look in his eyes. I sighed, "Very well, then." I pushed my stake into his stomach again and sliced it across his chest a few times. In the meantime Lena pulled her stake across his forehead and Lev across his legs. When Lilly pulled out her gun and shot him (with a silver bullet) through his chest, nowhere near his heart and I looked up at her and said: "Again," the guy screamed out loud and cursed a few times before saying the address.

I gave him my sick, twisted smile, said "Thank you, that wasn't so hard, now was it? Now, how many of your kind will be present there? And don't even think about lying, I'll just figure it out and make sure you regret it!" I added that last bit when he opened his mouth a little to quick for my liking.

-"Ugh, you stupid bitch! Think you can do everything? Fuck you! I'm gonna make you scream in pain, you'll be begging for forgiveness and after that begging for death!"

Lilly simply shot him in the chest again and just as Mara doomed up behind me, her gun also ready, he screamed: "23! There were 23 of us."

-"The 6 of you included?" asked Lev. The Strigoi growled at him but I narrowed my eyes and sliced my stake once more across his chest: "Answer him!"

-"Yes, you worthless piece of junk! Yes with the 6 of us included."

-"Very well, thanks for your participation, dickhead." I said sweetly before dugging the stake into his chest.

-"Good job, guys," I said. "Let's call the Alchemists and get these bodies out of here."

Mara pulled out her phone and dialled a number we had all memorized. That of the headquarter of the Alchemists here in Russia. I had thought about calling Sidney, but since she was currently living at court I figured she shouldn't be bothered with Strigoi-bodies on the other side of the world. That and calling her meant someone else knowing the identities of the members of the hunting group. So we just called the headquarter and repeated the same routine everytime. We'd only say: "Your favourite dhampirs in the world calling in, we've got … bodies on …. (address) and … human unconscious." After that we wouldn't wait for a return, we'd just hide out someplace near to keep other humans from walking into the bodies and made sure none of the Alchemists ever saw us.

While Tamara was on the phone, the rest of us carried the Strigoi-bodies on a pile on one side of the alley while we laid the unconscious humans a few metres further next to each other.

When we were done, We climbed on top of a roof, from where we could keep an eye on the area. I pulled out my cell and called another familiar number. Hans's. I kept contact with him, to inform him about the most important things, but he only knew he was talking to the leader of the gang, he didn't know I was Rose Hathaway.

The conversation was in English

-"Hello."

-"Hello Hans. Guess who's calling."

-"What do you have?"

-"Yeah, I'm really great, thanks for asking? How are you?"

-"Sorry, I was just in a meeting with the queen, didn't mean to be impolite."

I laughed. "Chill, guy, just messing with you. Actually, I think the queen would want to hear this as well. Though I do think it's better if she'd hear it from you. You could adapt the story a bit for her, she shouldn't worry too much."

-"Things that bad, huh?"

-"Pretty much. We've been dealing with packs lately."

-"Packs of Strigoi?" I heard him gulp.

-"No Hans, packs of wolves." I said sarcastically.

-"No times for jokes, okay! Strigoi don't coexist. It's simply not possible. You're wrong on this one!"

Now I dropped the light voice and pulled out my cold, leader voice.

-"I will not be called a liar, nor will you question the facts I bring to you. I don't have to tell you these things, okay? Nor would I tell them to you and cause panic if I wouldn't be completely sure of my case. Understood?"

-"Yes, sorry, but was it a one-time thing or has it happened regularly?" I loved how I could make the boss of all the guardians at court feel like he was beneath me so I answered in that same businessvoice.

-"It's happened 6 times so far, the packs usually have 5 to 8 members, but that's only to travel. In the mansions they coexist with groups going to over 20 members." I said, using the information I'd just gotten from the Strigoi.

-"What?" Hans's voice was barely audible.

I turned my voice from stoic to gentle.

-"Hans, don't worry. We've been dealing with as many Strigoi as we can and we're planning on taking another mansion down tomorrownight. I can't have you panicking, okay? You need to trust me on this one. I'll gather as much information from the mansion as possible and then we'll have their concrete plans. We can start building up our plan of strategy from the information we collect tomorrow."

Hans took a deep breath and I hoped he would listen to me. It was important that he kept this information to himself until more details were available.

-"Okay, I'll inform the queen about the packs and tell her we'll start specifically planning our tactic when you've gathered more information. Until then I'll have my men loo-"

-"No you won't!" I interrupted him. "Your men won't know anything until we know details, understood? They can wait a day. Holding that information back for another day won't get anybody killed and there will be a lot less panic when we have an idea on how to handle this, okay?" No gentleness in my tone anymore. He needed to understand that him telling people now would only create fear among our society. Things needed to be figured out more before this info got out in the open.

After a long silence he finally spoke again.

-"Okay. I won't tell a soul until you tell me to, but only because I trust you. I believe you know better then anybody else on how to handle situations like this. But don't let me down, you hear me?"

-"I won't" I promised him. "But Hans? You can tell guardian Belikov and Castile. Only these 2, you get that?" Him telling Dimtri and Eddie worked out well for me. I didn't feel like repeating this conversation again and I trusted Hans on this. I also knew that Dimitri and Eddie would accept my decision to keep this under wraps for the moment, but they could tell Lissa and Chris.

Before Hans could respond I caught sight of 2 Alchemists coming closer, so before the were within earshot, I told Hans, "Gotta go," and hung up on him.

Tamara and Lillith eyed me curiously, since they hadn't understood a word of the conversation, but I shook my eyes and pointed in the direction of the approaching Alchemists. They nodded, but each gave me a look that said: "Later!" I grinned at them and nodded my head in response.

When the Alchemists had left, we went back to the club and caught another 2 Strigoi that night. 1 of them confirmed the information the first Strigoi had given, but the other hadn't known about anything. Wasn't apart of the secret society apparently.

We returned home and fell asleep as soon as the sun was up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

When I woke up, a few hours later, I went outside our hotel and started my normal routine: 20 laps, 120 push-ups, 150 chin-ups and 150 set-ups. When I was done with those I started practicing some moves I'd been dying to try out. One of them was doing a flip in the air, landing on one leg while spinning around and kicking my other leg against the nose of my opponent. I did it a couple of times until I felt like I had the hang of it. By then the others had also started their warm-ups and I took the time it took them to finish to call Lissa.

She answered on the second ring:

-"Hey, Liss!" I said happily. I hadn't spoken to her yesterday and 2 days were just waaay to long.

She answered in French, and I didn't even need the bond to know that she was in public, cuz if she was alone she would just answer me in English. Apparently she wanted to discus something with me that not everybody should know.

-"Hey, Rose! It's been ages! Why didn't you call me yesterday?" she whined.

I laughed

-"Not funny, Hathaway! I've been dying to hear from you!"

I laughed even harder now. "Chill, Liss." I was speaking French too. I couldn't help but want to show off my knowledge of languages to everybody. And besides, I hadn't studied so hard to not put it in use, right? "It hasn't been ages, barely 2 days! But yes, I did miss you too." I said, still smiling.

-"You better," she joked.

I grimaced. "So I take it Dimitri or Eddie has talked to you?"

It was quiet for a while. "Yes Rose, they have. And no matter how dangerous this all might be, right now I'm only worried about you guys. I heard you'll be taking down another mansion tonight."

-"Yeah, that's right. We need to have the information we nee, Liss. Who knows. Maybe we'll find out when this grand attack's supposed to happen. Who's participating. How many they've gathered. What the exact plan is. We need to know these stuff, Liss. And, not to brag, but we really do are the best in what we do. Strigoi fear us, Liss. If they're afraid, they'll make mistakes. If they make mistakes it's that much easier to take them out. Plus we're really good, Lissa. Nothing to worry about."

-"Nothing? Rose, you're up with seven against 20 Strigoi! That's not nothing, it's suicide!"

-"No Lissa, you're not listening! We've done this before, we know how to handle it and we really do need this information."

-"But can't you get it somewhere els-"

-"No Lissa, sorry, you know we can't. Have a little fate, would ya?"

-"I have, Rose. You know I trust you more then anyone. Which is why I can't lose you!"

-"I need you too Liss, Which is why I'll do everything in my power to come back to you. But I will also protect you. You're in the council, Lissa! They're planning on killing you too! I can't let that happen. You know that!"

-"Yes I do, but that doesn-, oh whatever. Just promise me you'll be carefull! And that we'll see each other again very soon!"

-"Yes sis, I promise."

-"Good, now make the rest of them promise as well! And put me on speaker! I want to hear them promise!"

-"Seriously, Lissa, you sound like a mother you know that, right?"

-"Yes and as a mother I don't want anything happening to my children. Now put me on speaker, young lady or you're not going tonight!"

I laughed "Yes Mom."

Then I called in Russian to the gang: "Hey guys, Lissa's on the phone. She wants you all to come over here and promise her you'll be careful. And I'd do as she sais cuz you do not want her motherly instincts to take over completely and ground you forever." I said with a grin. They all laughed and I heard Lissa say through the phone:

"Rose, I don't know what you just said but it'd better be nice." That made me laugh even harder and I motioned the others to come over.

One by one Lissa made them swear to be careful. And I couldn't help but smile at the idea of Lissa being so worried and loving about my family here. They really did come along great.

-"I've got to leave you now, Lissa. We've still got some training and planning to do, but I'll call you tomorrow. And that's a promise.

-"Kay. I love you Rose. Please come back to me." Her voice was barely a whisper and I wanted nothing more than hug her right now.

-"I love you too Lissa, so much. I'll be back to you before you even realise it. Give my love to Dimitri, Eddie and Christian, would you?"

-"Of course. Love you."

-"Love you too."

I then hung up and turned to face my gang. They looked at me with compassionate faces. They knew how hard it was for me to be away from Lissa. Especially when she needed me this much. I shook it of and went to give them instructions for today's training.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

-"Okay guys," I called.

-"We'll go over the plan one last time. Victor, Lev and Lena, when we get there, you go scout the perimeter for guards. If they're human, just knock them unconscious. If they're Strigoi, don't hesitate, you know they won't either. Be fast and lethal, okay?" the three of them nodded and I turned my attention to Denis and Tamara.

-"Mara, Dennis, I need you to go with them but while they're doing the fighting, you sneak through and kick all windows in. This'll result in a lot of sunlight entering the house, so more safety for us and less space for the Strigoi. Back off when you're done with all the windows and go help the others clearing out the yard. Please have each others backs, I'll bet you my guardian title that they'll send humans out to keep you away from the windows or they'll try to pull you in and fight you off themselves." They nodded too.

-"Lilly, you're with me, we're climbing up the roof and we'll enter through the bay window. The hostages are being held captive in the attic, so we're going to clear that space first."

After my phone call with Hans, he'd apparently done some research on the address and with help of his satellite pictures he'd seen them bringing in hostages and on later photo's you could see the hostages through the bay window, which meant that they were being held in the attic.

-"I suspect there'll be about 2 strigoi and 3 humans guarding them, so Lilly, we've got to be on sharp. We also have to be as quiet as possible so we don't have any extra Strigoi storming in. We leave the hostages in the attic while we're clearing out the rest of the house, but we'll have to make sure they stay in the sunlight, just in case a Strigoi sneaks past us. When we're done and you guys (I looked back at the others) have cleared the outside, we both attack at the same time. Lilly and I from inside and you guys stay in the pairs I've put you in. This means: Dennis and Mara, you'll kick in the front door and fight from there out. Victor, Lev and Lena, you circle the house and enter from the back, but wait for my signal. We want to overpower them and that'll only work with great timing. Especially since they'll be warned for our arrival by the breaking windows."

-"Rose, are you sure about just the 2 of you going to free the hostages?" asked Lena concerned.

-"Chill, Lena. I'm badass, remember?" I grinned, then saw Lilly's playful glare and quickly added "and so is Lilly so relax. Besides, I need all of you to be downstairs when we fully attack. I want an overwhelming effect when we attack and what's better then 5 asskicking dhampirs entering from all sides? And 2 additional dhampirs attacking from above. We'll totally kick but, Lena." I said with a smile.

-"Fine, Rose, but radio us if things are getting risky, we don't wanna risk either of you, okay?" ordered Victor.

-"Sure, boss." I replied teasingly.

He grinned and gave me a hug.

-"Well, guys, get dressed, grab your weapons and we'll leave in 10." With that I went upstairs to grab my weapons. I didn't have to get dressed anymore, seeing as how I'd already put on my battle clothes before our meeting. But I did decide to call Dimitri. It's not that I felt like there was a great challenge with many risks ahead of us, it's just that I wanted to hear his voice. To have something to fight for, to return to.

-"Hello?" answered he.

-"Hey Comrade," I said with a smile.

-"Roza! Are you in trouble? Did something go wrong? What happened? Are you okay?" His rambling was interrupted by my laugh.

-"Relax, Dimitri," I said, "we haven't done anything yet, but we're leaving in 5 minutes and I wanted to hear your voice before we left."

-"Oh, God Roza, for a moment there I thought…"

-"Nothing's wrong, Comrade. You can relax."

-"No I can't Roza, not till your next call, in which you tell me you're all safe and you have the information you needed and you'll be returning home soon. In fact, I won't relax until I have you back in my arms.

I sighed. "I miss you too, Dimitri. We'll see each other soon. When we've collected the information we need, we'll have to go to court to explain everything to Hans and the queen."

-"Good," he said. He started to say something else too but Dennis entered the room and said with an apologetic smile on his face: "Rose, we really should go."

-"Dimitri? It's time, I've got to go. Give my love to Liss and my brothers, kay? I love you."

-"I will and I love you too Roza. Come back to me."

-"I always will, Dimitri." I could imagine the smile he had on his lips now and with a smile of my own I closed my phone and turned to Dennis.

-"Let's go Dennis."

-"Let's," he answered. We walked outside to our 2 hummers (I know: AWESOME!) a red one and a black one. I gave the keys of the black one to Dennis and he, Lev and Victor entered that car while me, Lena, Mara en Lilly entered the red one, with me driving of course .

We parked two blocks away and walked from there on. And I told them once again: "be careful, have each others back. Remember what we're fighting for. Remember that you're all badass and I'm proud of you, always have been and always will be. Fight hard, show them what you're capable of and please return safe." By then I had watered eyes and everyone looked at each other with love, because we may work together, but we were a family, a very close, loving family. My tears threatened to escape and I masked my fear for them with my usual attitude: "And if y'all are good, you'll be getting a delicious candy as a reward. So now you know what you're fighting for." They laughed and we made our way to the house.

When we grew closer to the house, we split up. Lilly and me sneaking toward a drainpipe while the others went to scout the perimeter. Dennis and Mara with them before they would also part with them and head toward the windows.

My heart went out to them, but then I locked my emotions carefully away and focused on the task before me. I climbed up the drainpipe skilfully and Lilly followed me. We waited for Dennis and Mara to distract the dhampirs below us by smacking the windows so we could smack the bay window _without_ attracting attention.

Then the sound of clinging glass and we were in action. Lilly and I both kicked the bay window at the same time which resulted in it breaking immediately and creating a hole big enough for the both of us to jump through at the same time. Our entering had happened so fast that neither the Strigoi, nor the human guards had seen it coming. I pulled my stake and staked one of the Strigoi before he saw anything coming. Lilly was fighting 2 humans which left me to deal with the last Strigoi and the other human. (looks like I'd guessed correctly about the number of guards.)

The Strigoi was old and fast, but he'd been a Moroi during his life which meant the only training he'd had was while being Strigoi. That was an advantage for me, but the human man was a real pain in the ass. He wasn't all that threatening, but his strength combined with the Strigoi could create a problem for me, so I decided to take him out first. A swift knock to his head made him stumble and I was able to put him between me and the Strigoi. Using the temporally absence of the Strigoi I swung my leg up toward the humans stomach while my fist connected with his nose. A following knock on his head with the backside of my stake was enough to knock him unconscious. But I didn't have time for a victory dance as the Strigoi had reached me again and we were now starting a deadly dance. I'd misjudged the age of this guy I realised as he attacked me with impossible spead. He was even older then I'd expected, but he wasn't the only experienced one in this room. I was able to dodge each attack he sent my way and in the meantime deliver a few of my own. We'd been going at it for a while when I realised this couldn't go on forever. I'd grew tired faster then he would and that would be all he needed to finish me off, so I decided to try my new trick. While dodging his fist that was aimed at my nose, I flipped backwards, landed on one feet and swung my other leg backwards in a move so unexpected for him that I felt my feet impact with his face. I turned around with perfectly mastered speed and used his stumble as an opening, kicking him again in his stomach with my left fist while my other hand used the stake to pierce his heart. The Strigoi fell and I assessed Lilly's fight. She'd knocked down one of her guys and was almost finished with the second one. figuring she'd be alright I turned my attention on the hostages.

-"Are you guys alright?" I asked. There was a little girl and her mother who looked like she'd been used for blood and another woman who looked like she was pregnant. I was shocked at this. These Strigoi really had no conscious at all. Taking 2 mothers with their children? Bastards!

The pregnant women answered me with a nod. She looked amazingly calm, while the other mother looked at me with a slightly unfocused gaze. She must've had a bite not to long ago. Her daughter had tears falling over her cheeks and I spoke to comfort her.

-"Shht, calm down , sweetie. We'll get you out of here, okay? I promise. I just need you guys to go sit under that window in the sunlight, can you do that for me, please?"

The pregnant women got up and grabbed a hold of the girl's hand while speaking to the other mother.

-"Nadine, get up, we need to move."

I looked at this calm woman.

-"you really are remarkable, you know that? You're going to be a fantastic mother. Staying calm in a situation like this is absolutely necessary and you've got the strength in you." I said with a smile toward her.

She smiled a tired smile back and said:

-"Thank you, but no offence or anything, but you won't be able to take them all out, you know. There's like 20 Strigoi downstairs. I want to get out of here, so I'll do as you say, but I won't get my hopes up about getting out of here."

Lilly, who was done with her attacker, laughed and said: "Do you know who you're talking to?" I shot her a look, that she ignored. Ugh.

The woman raised her eyebrows and went to answer her, but at the same time my radio cracked: "Rose? We're done out here, we've taken out 8 humans and all the windows are down. You guys okay?" Dennis said.

-"Lilly, they're done outside, we're gonna have to get moving." I said to Lilly, she nodded and turned her attention to the 3 women in the sunlight, telling them to stay there till we came back for them. And to make no noise at all. In the meantime I answered Dennis: "We're good, took out 2 Strigoi and 3 humans. The hostages are secure. We move on my signal."

-"Okay," answered Dennis. "Mara and I are in position."

Lena's stem joined the conversation: " As are Lev, Victor and me."

I nodded to Lilly and we went to the door, ready to kick it down as soon as I'd given the signal.

-"Attack in 3, 2, 1…" Lilly and I kicked the door and with our combined strength the door, just like the previous window, went down easily despite the lock.

We sprinted down the stairs, on the first flour we bumped into 4 Strigoi, 2 for each. Mine were 2 newbies so I was able to stake them quickly. Lilly didn't have such luck as she'd gotten the 2 strong onces, but she was able to stand her ground very well and had staked one before I joined her and we took the other one out together with perfect teamwork. We grinned at each other and then ran forward. We entered a room where Dennis and Mara were fighting 6 Strigoi, so we went to help them.

The Strigoi had surrounded Dennis and Mara so Lilly and I each took one out of the circle and began fighting them. This time Lilly was the lucky one with the newbie so she was able to take him out quickly and go pick out another one to fight while Dennis and Tamara dealt with the other 3. I had unfortunately picked the strongest this far. Even better then the one in the attic, so it took a while to get him down. But using the same trick I had on the other one, and being Rose Hathaway, I was able to make him stumble and use the opening to shove my stake down his heart.

This room was cleared so we headed further. We came across 3 Strigoi, but with the 4 of us they really weren't a problem at all and in the next room we saw 7 Strigoi bodies on the floor with Lev, Lena and Victor closing in the last remaining one. But he was, well amazing. Even the 3 of them together weren't able to kill him. He'd just thrown Lev against a wall while dodging Lena's attack and Victor was running back to him. Like he also had just been thrown of. the 3 of them were sweating and panting and seemed relieved when they saw us entering the room. They immediately fell into place with us and now we were standing in a V-form facing the grinning Strigoi. I was up front, being the leader and all that, with Dennis and Lilly flanking me. Then Lena flanked Dennis with Lev flanking her and on the other side there was Lilly, Mara and Victor.

-"Well, well," said the Strigoi. "If it isn't the notorious hunting-group."

-"Shouldn't you be afraid? With us being all badass and stuff? You do know we just took down all your hitch men, right?"

-"Yes you did, but you won't be able to kill me."

I wore an evil smile. I liked a challenge. "And why would that be?" I asked sweetly.

-"Because I'm the leader of the Moskow-clan, the most important clan in Russia. I'm 349 years old and have killed more then you can ever imagine. I'm going to kill you off, one by one and may keep a few of you around. As you've pointed out I'm a little short on hitch men at the moment." He sneered. Oh no he didn't. I clenched my teeth together. Threatening me, okay, but he would stay the hell away from my family. I absorbed some of Lissa's darkness and that combined with my skills and determination should give me the strength to kill this son of a bitch.

-"Well then, mister I-know-it-all,… bring it on." I motioned the others to stay behind as I lunged for him. He grinned as if he hoped I was going to attack him alone. But as I attacked him with everything I had, the image of him hurting my family here and in America spinning through my mind, I saw his grin turning into a frown. I moved with speed I hadn't thought I was capable of and we kept lunging for each other. Dodge, attack, dodge, attack, … My entire focus on our fight, on my desire to kill him. Lissa's darkness made my aims sharper, harder and faster then they already are.

But 349 years of experience and blood played in his advantage. He was faster then any Strigoi I'd ever fought, and really, what did I expect, he was the most powerful Strigoi of Russia. Surely that position wasn't just given to him.

So we fought on, neither of us backing down. I kicked him in the stomach but he barely felt it, he tried to kick me in my stomach but I dodged it. With his speed, he was already throwing the next punch while I was still dodging the previous one, but that didn't mean the punch landed. With my asskicking skills, I threw my body backwards, catching my weight with my hands while kicking my legs up, hitting him with one leg in the crotch while swinging my other all the way up to the side of his head. The move was so unexpected that he hadn't known how to dodge it so the kick landed. Pushing myself back up in less then a second, I used his stumble and staked him.

I breathed heavily and pulled my stake out. When I turned around, I saw the guys staring at me with awe in their eyes and there mouths hanging open.

-"You, you just… and he… 349 years old… you just… Waw." I cracked a smile at Lev's stumbling. The I saw Lena holding a videocamera and I raised my eyebrows. (seeing as I still couldn't raise only 1. Pathetic, really. I could take out a 349year old Strigoi but I couldn't control my own damned eyebrows.)

-"What?" she demanded. "You just wait until the queen and Hans see this. You'll be worshiped forever!" I was confused. "No I won't be. They already know I'm good. Really, you guys shouldn't make such a big deal out of this."

-"Rose," Dennis shook his head, "there's a difference between being good, amazing, badass and Rose Hathaway." I rolled my eyes but Mara nodded and spoke: "He's right, Rose. That fight, well it was more then amazing. You took out the number-one Strigoi in Russia, escaping with barely a few bruises while Lev, Lena and Victor together couldn't take him and came out of the fight with a concussion, a sprained ankle, bruises and a dislocated shoulder."

I immediately focused on their injuries and hurried over to them with a worried look on my face. "Chill, Rose," Lena said. "We're fine."

-"No, you're not." I answered. "but you will be when Lissa's done with you. We're getting on the next plain to America, you guys." I announced.

Their faces lit up.

"But first, one last thing. Gather all the information you can from this house. Take computers, papers, files, anything you find and put it in the Hummers. Lilly, you and me are going to get the hostages. They're coming with us to Amerika.


End file.
